


Assistant's Day?

by Msathenaxf



Category: The West Wing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-09-19
Updated: 2007-09-19
Packaged: 2019-05-30 17:53:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15101909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Msathenaxf/pseuds/Msathenaxf
Summary: Josh, Sam and Toby learn something surprising about their assistants.





	Assistant's Day?

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

Title: Assistant's Day?  
Characters: All the boys and their long suffering assistants.  
Category: General?   
Disclaimer: Not mine. Borrowed purely for fun, not profit.  
Summary: Josh, Sam and Toby discover something interesting about their assistants.  
Author's Notes: A while back I posted a request for a beta reader for this story; I got several. I was surprised and extremely grateful to everyone who volunteered. I even had to turn some people down. (Thank you Kerry, Meg and Monica!) So, I have to thank Leila, Tim, Brandy, Carrie, Anne Marie, Sharron, Lori and Jennifer for their excellent read-throughs and comments. Every single one of them gave me great suggestions and/or boosted my confidence in the story in general, and I really appreciate it. 

I've tried to incorporate their edits and I hope I've done all right with that. In those instances where there were conflicting thoughts, I went with the majority. Also, it was pointed out to me that one part was very out of character, but the part itself was amusing to a lot of others. So, I just changed the character.

Assistant's Day?  
************************

"Wait a minute!" Josh yelled.

Donna turned around and came back to her desk. "What?" she asked irritably, her arms full of files.

"What is that?"

"It's the memo to the internal staff about the-"

"Not that. That," he emphasized, pointing at a huge flower arrangement on her desk.

"Oh. That."

Josh eyed her sternly when it became apparent she wasn't going to say any more.

Before he could start in on her, Donna said, "You're late for the meeting with Sam and Toby. Better get moving."

Josh tried to stare her down but Donna didn't blink. He stalked off.

He froze mid-stride just outside Sam's door. Bonnie and Ginger also had huge, beautiful flower arrangements on their desks. His heart sank.

Going into Sam's office, he asked, "It's Assistant's Day and I missed it, didn't I?"

Toby threw his legal pad onto Sam's desk. "Sam, we've discussed this. You are supposed to remind me of these ridiculous little occasions."

Josh raised his eyebrows. "You do Assistant's Day?" he asked doubtfully.

"No. But I discovered last year-painfully--that Bonnie and Ginger do Assistant's Day."

In response to Josh's questioning look, Toby added, "They didn't talk to me for two days."

Sam jumped in. "And Ginger hid his rubber ball in the trash can. It was almost thrown away. And I can't prove it, but I think I saw Bonnie spit in his coffee."

"Which is exactly why, Sam, you are supposed to remind me of this stupid day at least a week in advance."

Sam looked at his calendar. "But it's not Assistant's Day."

Josh and Toby looked at him doubtfully. "Really. It's not."

"Then who sent them all flowers?" Josh asked.

"Flowers?"

"Yeah. Donna's got some and when I came over here, I saw that Ginger and Bonnie have some, too."

Sam and Toby turned toward the window, poking their heads out on either side of the blinds. Josh was right.

Just then, a courier came in with yet another vase. Bonnie, who was on the phone, waved him in the direction of C.J.'s office, mouthing "Carol."

Toby, Sam and Josh were very confused.

"Birthday?" Sam asked.

"On the same day?" Toby replied sarcastically.

"Valentine's?" asked Josh, feeling a bit queasy at the thought. It was a very nice arrangement on Donna's desk.

Sam threw him a disdainful glance. "It's October, Josh."

"Halloween?" 

"United Nations Day?"

After a few minutes, Toby finally gave up. "I'm going to ask."

Josh and Sam, who felt this was a bit risky, since they couldn't remember what it was they had forgotten, stood just outside Sam's doorway. Sam's door had a lock if they needed to beat a hasty retreat.

Casually, or as casual as Toby could be, he said, "'Morning, Ginger. Where'd you get the flowers?"

Ginger glanced up from her typing and looked at him curiously. "I don't know. There was no card."

Ginger, however, was not a very good liar. Toby stared her down.

"There really wasn't a card."

"But you know who they're from?"

Bonnie, who had ended her phone call in a hurry, jumped in, "They're from her secret admirer." Ginger nodded eagerly.

"And this admirer likes you, too? And Donna? And Carol?"

Bonnie glanced at Ginger. The poor girl looked like a deer in headlights. Bonnie sighed. They were busted.

Without a word, she buzzed Donna's desk. "You should come over here. And ask Margaret and Carol to come along too."

Toby, Sam and Josh all looked at each other nervously. Five were a lot harder to handle than two.

A few minutes later, the women breezed in from various parts of the West Wing. 

"What's up?" Carol asked. "Do I need to find C.J.?"

Bonnie answered. "No. These three," she said, waving her hand in the general direction of Sam's door with annoyance, "want to know where we got the flowers."

"Oh." Carol's tone was decidedly uncomfortable. Each of them, actually, looked decidedly uncomfortable. No one spoke.

Frustrated, Toby snapped, "Well?"

Donna answered. "You caught me. I sent them all flowers and picked up some for myself, too. Just a 'Have a Nice Day' gesture."

Josh snorted. "If you can afford to buy five bouquets like that, then you need to quit bugging me for a raise."

Donna scowled at him. "It doesn't really matter where we got them. They're ours."

"Well, we're your bosses."

"You're not my boss," said Carol. Margaret hastily agreed and they both turned toward the doorway. Leo was standing in the way. 

"What is going on?" he asked. "Margaret, I've been buzzing you for the last five minutes."

"Sorry, Leo. I'm headed back now." 

Leo, however, had noticed that this was a very strange meeting. "Well, I've already found what it was I needed you to find for me. So, what's going on?"

Josh and Toby looked at their shoes. They were supposed to be discussing arrangements for the President's speaking engagement in New Jersey. 

Sam, bless his soul, had no such compunction. "We were trying to find out who sent them all flowers." Toby cringed next to him. 

But, to his surprise, Leo laughed. "You don't know?"

His subordinates just looked at him confused. Leo smiled, amused, and asked Margaret, "Why don't they know?"

She mumbled, "We didn't want to upset them."

Leo laughed again. "Donna, tell them. This is too funny for me to pass up."

Donna blushed. She sighed and looked at Josh. "So, you remember last week when the House Committee on Standards for Professional Conduct needed to meet with you?" 

Josh nodded. "Well, they really wanted to speak to you as soon as possible and it was very difficult to rearrange your schedule-."

Josh interrupted. "My schedule was changed?"

Donna rolled her eyes and wondered why on earth she had been trying to protect him from this information. "Yes, Josh! I had to cancel and re-schedule seven appointments and nine phone calls-one of which was your mother, by the way-in order for the meeting to go through."

"It was only a three hour meeting!" 

The eyes of all the assistants almost popped out of their sockets. "Only?" Donna said. "An hour to get to the meeting, since you're going to stop and wheedle everyone you meet in the halls, three hours blocked out for the meeting itself, and another hour to get back, since again, you're going to stop to talk shop. That's five hours. A three hour meeting away from the office is a lot of your day, Josh."

Toby said, "That still doesn't explain the flowers."

"Oh. Well. They're from the members of the Professional Conduct committee, as a thank-you."

There was silence. "Five Congressmen sent you flowers?" Josh asked, shocked. "You?"

Donna glared at him. "Yes, Josh. Although, I'm guessing that by the end of the day it will be more like ten. Since, you know, there were ten Congressmen at the meeting."

Sam asked, "Well, why did you give them away?"

Bonnie said, "Ten bouquets on her little desk? Give me a break."

Carol rolled her eyes and explained. "Well, obviously, it would be unethical for us to accept any type of gift from political parties. So, we're very careful to remove any notes and spread anything we may get around the office. Everyone shares. We don't want to be accused of favoritism."

"You all get gifts?" Sam asked. All five assistants nodded.

Toby shook his head, disbelief written all over his face. "Okay. So what do you guys get?"

Bonnie was the first to answer. "Gourmet coffee." 

Sam jumped, looking down at his mug. "You mean...?" 

"You don't really think the government would spring for that stuff, do you?"

"I get flowers, too," Carol replied. At Sam's look, "What? I'm girly."

"Fruit baskets," said Margaret proudly. "On my birthday, it's organic fruit baskets."

Josh and Sam could only blink in reply.

"Ginger?" prodded Toby

Quietly, she answered, "Swiss chocolate."

"That was a great batch last time, Ginger. Thanks for sending that box over my way," Leo interrupted. She smiled and nodded. Sam scowled.

"Wait a minute. You gave him chocolate but didn't share---"

Josh jumped in. "What I want to know is why they get the presents. We're the ones that have to actually talk to Congress. Why don't they send us anything?"

Margaret groaned. "Here we go. This is why we didn't want to tell you where the flowers were from. We didn't want you to feel unappreciated."

"Some egos are just too fragile to handle having a secretary get any appreciation." Donna's comment was so quiet almost no one heard. Leo did, though. He straightened, knowing he was going to have to rescue these guys soon.

Toby said, "I agree with Josh. We're the ones who traipse over there and change our schedules around-"

"Change your schedules?" Sam automatically took a small step backward. Even Toby flinched. Ginger didn't get angry over just anything.

"You guys have no idea what's on your schedule until we give it you. Josh didn't even know his schedule had been changed. Why should you get anything?"

Josh said, "Because we're the bosses."

A shocked and very deadly silence fell over the group. Leo quickly jumped in. There was going to be bloodshed soon.

"Time to break up the party. Beautiful flowers, Donna. Thanks for sprucing up in here, too. These two could use some extra cheer." Leo surreptitously steered the other three men into Sam's office.

Outside, all five women glared at the closed door. They looked at each other and then stalked off angrily. 

"What is wrong with you three? Are you stupid? You almost got yourselves killed out there."

Sam said, "Well, seriously, Leo. Why should they get gifts? We do all the talking."

"And you get votes. That's what Congress gives you for showing up to meetings."

"But-" Toby started to say.

"No buts." Leo paused. "Do you know how long I was looking for the paperwork that I needed Margaret to find just now? Fifteen minutes. You know where I found it? On my desk. She would have been able to tell me that without even leaving her chair. That is what those women out there do. Not a single one of you could get along without them for even one day. They should get a lot more than flowers and chocolate."

Leo continued to glare at them. "You don't mess with those women. And I have learned through experience that you better show them due appreciation. Between Margaret and Jenny, it was a quick lesson. You guys need to get to the head of the class, fast." He paused. "And if you're in doubt, try telling Mrs. Lanningham she doesn't deserve flowers." 

He turned to leave the room. He flung opened the door to be met with an empty bullpen. 

Sam squeaked, "They're coming back, right?"

Just then another courier walked in, with yet another flower bouquet. "Where should I put these? Ms. Moss told me to deliver them here. Said you guys wanted them." There was just a hint of laughter in his voice.

Leo said, "Follow me. There's a lady outside my office door that deserves all the flowers she can get."

Josh stepped out of the office. "Hey. How many of those have come in today anyway?"

The courier looked back. "This is number eight. They really like Ms. Moss over there on the Hill, I guess."

Josh had the grace to blush as he turned back to his colleagues. 

All Toby could say was, "She's going to spit in my coffee for a month."

"At least it'll be gourmet," answered Sam.

###


End file.
